St Wilfrid's Catholic Church, Preston, Lancashire, England - Essay Example

St Wilfrids Catholic Church, Preston, Lancashire, England St Wilfrids Catholic Church, Preston, Lancashire, England IntroductionThe diverse use of many distinct features and decorations in Victorian styles is particularly attributed to the fact that many of these buildings including the Church of St Wilfrid, Chapel Street in Preston were built at a time when industrialization brought a number of innovations to architecture. For example, as a result of the innovations brought by the industrial revolution, many Victorian architects such as Ignatius Scoles and S.J. Nichols saw that they could easily use the new of technological skills to design buildings in any style, revive classical designs and use new designs (Hodge, 2007, p.69). This consequently led to the development of a wide range of styles during the era of Queen Victoria that were later collectively known as the Victorian style. As a result, there was no single prominent Victorian fashion in architecture throughout the Victorian era. However, although there are many Victorian architectural styles and designs, all of them share a number of similarities in their architectural features This paper critically analyzes the building structure and fabric of St. Wilfrid’s Catholic Church, Preston, Lancashire, England, with particular focus to its architectural styles and approaches. Fig 1: The Church of St Wilfrid, Chapel Street, Preston A Brief History of the Building The Roman Catholic St Wilfrid’s Church, Chapel Street, Preston, England is an architectural landmark situated at the center of the city of Preston. According to Hodge (2007, p.76), the history of the large iconic building dates back to 1793 when it was opened as a new Chapel after the 1791 Second Relief Act legalized the construction of public places of Catholic Worship in England. The non-conformist style galleried Chapel remained in its original state until towards the late1870s when many people began to see it as old fashioned particularly in comparison to a number of other great churches such as St Ignatius which had now risen in the region (Hunt, 2003, p.124). In1878, the rebuilding work on St Winfrids Chapel began as an attempt to make the building equal if not superior to the other churches in the region. Generally, the 1878-80 remodeling was particularly carried out to expand the building while at the same time marking it look grander. In the early 1890s, the original plain walls of the church building exterior, incorporating much of the old 1793 chapel, were adorned with beautiful stone cladding and decorative terra-cotta as well as stone carvings. Under direction of S.J. Nichol, the new decorative designs comprising of terracotta, brick detail and stone carvings gave the building a completely new look based on the Italian Renaissance style (Lancashire County Council, 2008). On the other hand, the interior walls and columns were further reinforced with elaborate and beautiful marbles from all over Europe. Building Analysis The Church of St Wilfrid, Chapel Street, Preston, was primarily built based on a diverse range of Victorian architectural design styles and is particularly notable for its magnificent exterior designs and rich internal architecture and furnishings. The building is currently a grade II listed building and this is particularly attributed to its highly iconic exterior and interior Victorian architectural detailing. Instead of being at right-angles to the adjacent streets like most of the buildings in the area, the design of the building is distinctively parallel to the streets and does not have any surrounding green space or even a spire. Additionally, although the initial design the first stage of the church was to have a plain brick edifice with a balcony around the three sides facing the altar inside the church, it was later decided that the church needed to expand in order to accommodate the growing congregation. The entire rebuilding and remodeling of the Chapel, which was overseen by the two Victorian architects, Ignatius Scoles and S.J. Nichols gave the building a new Italian renaissance style look which has remained to date. Currently, the building is largely painted red brick with a steep slate roof and terra cotta exterior finishes. Nave is largely used on the north south axis of the church while the Western and Eastern aisles as well as the east chapels are all constructed based on Italian basilica styles. Figure 2: North End of the Church of St Wilfrid On the other hand, the church also has high plinth dressed with beautiful sandstones as well as a uniquely rusticated terracotta ground floor with cornice, bands and frieze of matching material. Generally, the gabled tripartite with the center slightly breaking away has a large and round headed doorway with extremely elaborated terracotta designs including flanking side doors, tympanum with reliefs in similar style. Additionally, a large circular shaped window is placed near the top of the building surrounded with monograms and terracotta surrounds. The design of the western side of the church building consists of high-set round-headed windows with elaborate terracotta design surrounds (Wilkinson, 2000). On the other hand, the interior of the church largely consist of walls with basilica designs as well as massive Corinthian columns. Both the walls and the columns are reinforced with red polished elaborate and beautiful marbles in various hues. Finally, the interior design of the walls also includes large Corinthian pilasters with numerous mosaic portraits of saints. Fig 3: The Interior Design of St Wilfrid Church Building Although there are many Victorian architectural styles and designs, all of them share a number of similarities in their architectural features. Some of the major Victorian style features that are visible in St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church building in Preston include its sticking bay windows, dentils, columns and steep gable among others. Like many of Victorian style buildings, while the building of St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church building in Preston was based on new construction techniques, its design relied heavily on various historical and classical styles of architecture as the primary source of its aesthetic reference. According to Wilkinson (2000), the diverse use of many distinct features and decorations in Victorian styles is particularly attributed to the fact that many of these buildings including the Church of St Wilfrid, Chapel Street in Preston were built at a time when industrialization brought a number of innovations to architecture. For example, as a result of the innovations brought by the industrial revolution, many Victorian architects such as Ignatius Scoles and S.J. Nichols saw that they could easily use the new of technological skills to design buildings in any style, revive classical designs and use new designs. This consequently led to the development of a wide range of styles during the era of Queen Victoria that were later collectively known as the Victorian style. According to many experts, the remodeling of the Roman Catholic St Wilfrid’s Chapel in Preston particularly with the new decorative designs of terracotta, and stone carvings gave the building a completely new look based on the Italian Renaissance style. Generally, many of the Italian renaissance architectural designs and styles were largely based on the classical Roman design features such as columns, domes, arches and pilasters among others. These features were generally merged to provide harmonious form and unique mathematical proportions which were often based on human scale. In this regard, it can be argued that the current design of the building of St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church building in Preston is largely based on the Victorian styles that reflect a revival of the classical antiquity. Conclusion In conclusion, the Church of St Wilfrid building in Preston is particularly notable for its magnificent exterior designs and rich internal architecture and furnishings. It was constructed at a time when industrialization brought a number of innovations to architecture and many architects of the time saw that they could easily use the new of technological skills to design buildings in any style or revive classical designs. The architectural design of the iconic building reflects a diverse range of Victorian architectural design styles particularly the features of the Italian Renaissance style that were commonly used in the early 19th century as an attempt to revive the classical Roman architectural designs. References Hodge, A. C. 2007. History of Preston: An Introduction. Preston, UK: Carnegie Publishing Co. Limited. Hunt, D. 2003. Preston: Centuries of Change. Preston, UK: The Breedon Books Publishing Company.  Lancashire County Council. 2008. Heritage Conservation in Lancashire [online] Available at: http://www.lancscc.gov.uk/environment/archaeologyandheritage/archstrat/stratobjec.asp#objective Wilkinson, P. 2000. The Shock of the Old: A Guide to British Buildings. London: Channel 4 Books. Read More